Biomass Plant Final Air Permit Concerns Voiced at Meeting

Published August 6th, 2014

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Gainesville, FL -- Construction on the controversial biomass facility has been complete for months. It's now an operational facility and must operate under a different permit - a Title V air operation permit.

Tuesday evening, the State Department of Health held a public meeting to talk to residents about their concerns regarding the air permit. The complaints the FDEP are receiving are similar to those the biomass facility got for years - concerns about controlling dust and smells from the facility that previously made its way over to nearby neighborhoods like Turkey Creek.

GREC officials have taken steps to ease complaints, like spraying water on trucks to eliminate dust and reducing odor with an oil called ProSweet.

FDEP's Office of Permitting and Compliance Program Administrator Jeff Koerner said, "if we decide to go forward and issue the permit, we have to respond to public comments in writing so that'll take us a little bit of time, so maybe a couple of weeks to do that and the next step in this operation permit is to send a proposed permit to the EPA for their review."

Koerner said it may be more than a month before FDEP gets a response from the EPA.